mopar bob

I both love and hate my hid lights. Around town they are great and on the highway, they light up signs nicely but don't light up the road far enough. On the back roads they are crap! OK I'm coming out of a 944S2 with 90/130 head lights with the 100 watt factory driving lights and they worked great on the back roads. I guess to get the high tech light you give up being able to see on the back roads. I guess if I want to see I need to put some old school driving lights in. My son wanted HIDs on his next Porsche but after he said that he couldn't see a thing i'm not so sure he does now, he told me to drive.

Dennis C

HID bulbs change in color temperature and light output over their effective lifespan (which seems to be somewhere around 10 years). You may consider changing the bulbs and seeing if that helps. Is it possible that somebody changed your OE bulbs to aftermarket bulbs? Many people prefer the whiter light produced by 5,000K or higher bulbs, but these bulbs produce far less usable light. The factory 4,300K bulbs are fantastic in my 997.

Is it possible that you are simply used to lights with much higher light output? If you compare 997 HID lights to 997 halogens, you'll see that the HIDs produce much more light...

OKB

first thing to try is go with a brighter bulb. Most of the stock bulbs are 4300K Take a bulb out, see what kind it is. May be a D1S or a D2S and it will have a 4300K on it also. Then look on ebay or any hid light store and pick the kind of bulb, D1S etc and get a brighter temp. Like 6000K or 8000K. If you go higher, the light illumination cannot get brighter, just changes colors. I find the 6000K is good color and illumination. Then just substitute them for your bulbs. If you still dont like it, you have to change your lights.

mopar bob

Yes Dennis I used to much higher light output. I always upgrade the lighting system in my cars. In my S2 I rewired the lights with 12 gauge wire and relays. I installed the euro driving lights that didn't come to the US and upgraded the head lights. Was there a driving light option for our cars? I was just looking at what bulbs cost, Dam $147.00 each but OEM suppler is 70 each at Pelican parts.
As for changing the color temp of the bulbs I'm not big on that. The color temp should change how much light comes out. So maybe the lamps are getting weak but hate to spend money on something when that MAYBE the problem.

Dennis C

Changing color temperature on HID bulbs is a mistake, especially if your goal is to improve the performance of your headlights. The OE color temperature for all automotive HID lights is 4,300K because it mimics natural sunlight. The human eye evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to provide the best performance in natural sunlight. The appearance of HID lights to oncoming traffic or to bystanders is white or bluish light, but the light that is projected on the road is not a blue light at all. Increasing the color temperature of the bulbs produces light that is more into the blue end of the spectrum, or even purple if you go high enough.

The human eye doesn't perform well in blue light. Depth perception is most noticeably impacted. Did you ever notice the color of the little lights to mark the stairs in a movie theater? They are blue. They are blue because blue light won't distract you from the film. Did you ever notice how many people trip on the steps in a movie theater? Lots of them trip because their depth perception is negatively impacted in the blue light. Did you ever notice the color on proper fog lights? They are amber, not white or blue.

If you're going for a certain look and not interested in improving your lighting performance, then go with a higher color temperature. If you're looking to improve your headlight performance, then stick with 4,300K.

mopar bob

Hey I miss quoted that is what you get for typing when you are eating lunch and have folks walking in. Color temp will NOT change the output but as you said will change how we see it. I'm a broadcast engineer and have been playing with lighting for 30 years. I guess that I will try new lamps and see if that helps.

Wayne Smith

Great ergonomic evaluation. Being color blind I kind of ignore these things. Thanks for giving some food for thought. Eyes opened!

Dennis C

I can't imagine driving on an back country, black top road in the rain with 6,000K HID lights. I would think you'd probably see better if you turned the lights off and drove by the light of the moon...

Bijan

Important to have clean headlight lenses for HID due to scatter.
It is mandatory to have headlight washers with HID here.
Off topic I think CREE LED's are the future although I have not read an independent review.
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/led-car-headlight

StormRune

Before changing lamps... have you tried the height adjustments?

I raised mine to the proper specs (as stated in the owners manual) plus a hint higher and get good lighting. I played with it a bit to get them a little higher while staying low enough not to come close to blinding anyone oncoming on level pavement, and the high beams light up anything... even up high... but I assume you are talking solely about the low beams.

mopar bob

I was talking high beams. it will light up the signs great but not much father down the road so you don't see the corner coming up. It kills the fun when you can't see where you are going. Yes I used the headlight washer didn't help.